Bob Kronbauer is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of Vancouver Is Awesome, a hugely popular online resource for everyone who lives in, or is interested in Vancouver, BC. He’s a Dad, a family man, an outdoorsman, a keen fisherman and host of the historical TV show ‘BC Was Awesome’. Also, here’s his fantastic Instagram page, full of inspiring shots of British Columbia, Canada.

So Bob, what surprised you most when you first became a Dad? 

I thought it was weird that brand new baby poo doesn’t stink, and that it looks like mustard. Relish those days, man.

Who were your main influences in learning how to parent? And what was one lesson they taught you?

As with most things in my life, learning to parent came from just doing it, fumbling through it. And I guess this should be obvious but after 8 years I’ve realized that the one person who’s influenced my style of parenting the most is my Dad. I do things differently than he did in some respects but he introduced me to the importance of nature, and of getting the family out into it.

How do you find a manageable work-life balance?

As an entrepreneur there was a time when my business was super small that I could have worked from our house, but I made the choice to have an office so I could literally separate my time at work from my time at home. There’s still a ton of overlap because my work sometimes involves traveling with the family and writing about it – and my phone is constantly buzzing – but I like being able to close the laptop, with purpose, when I leave the office.

If you were to do it all over again, is there anything you’d do differently?

Nope.

For the brand new Dads out there, what’s one piece of advice you’d like to share?

Read the book The Happiest Baby on the Block. That was the most helpful tool we had in the very early stages of our son’s life. That and a good sense of humour.

Thanks Bob!

To see more from Bob, check out his show BC Was Awesome and look out for the book coming out in 2018 on Arsenal Pulp Press.